A
Tour of Sumner

City
Hall is at 1104 Maple Street, the corner of Alder and Maple. You can
buy a Sumner lapel pin for $2.50 and pick up a copy of the Historic
Sumner Walking Tour Guide, a serviceable brochure with good historical
information. Take the walking tour to get a feel for Sumner - some
of the places mentioned below are on it.

The
gazebo at Heritage Park feels
like the heart of downtown Sumner. Community concerts are held there
in good weather and in December. Visit it during the holidays for an
escape from the season's materialism - it's old-fashioned decorations
and lights will help you step back into an older, untouched-by-hype
Washington.

There
are no hops kilns left in Sumner proper, but they can be seen in nearby
Alderton. The new train station takes its design from them. To see
hops kilns, take Main Street to the Valley
Freeway, head toward Orting (south), and stop by the Red Barn Tree
Farm between Alderton and McMillan.

The
commuter rail station is built on the site of the old Burlington Northern
Railroad Depot across from Sumner Animal Grub. It was here that George
Ryan, setting a pioneer example of civic-minded economic development,
built Sumner's first depot and paid the salary of the station master
for a year.

The
Charles W. Orton House is a bungalow built in 1914 outside the downtown
area at 7473 Riverside Road East. Orton was a successful agricultural
innovator and marketer - his home was the site of the first Daffodil
Tea.

The
Sumner Cemetery at Valley Avenue East began as a pioneer cemetery on
land donated by pioneer Isaac Woolery. Thanks to volunteers organized
by the Sumner Historical Society, many of the oldest headstones have
been cleaned. The number of stones with little lambs on them is a sad
testament to the high mortality rate for children in pioneer times.

The
Sumner Ryan House Museum is at 1228 Main Street. The home was built
in 1875 for George and Lucy Ryan, and left to the City of Sumner by
their heirs in 1926. The city used it as a library until 1979, when
it became a museum. The Sumner Historical Society has lovingly restored
the parlor, dining room, and kitchen areas to 1890-period style; two
bedrooms upstairs are also furnished and open to the public. It has
an excellent library, full of primary source materials and photographs
concerning Sumner, and possesses a beautifully detailed model of Sumner's
first schoolhouse (burned to the ground in 1924). Ryan House hours
are Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4PM, during the months of April through
October and December.

You
can't miss seeing Sumner Animal Grub as you drive into downtown along
Traffic Avenue. Burlington Northern built it; now it's a great feed
store, in operation for more than fifteen years, and thick with rural
sights and smells. Buy some food for your dog. Check out the cow magnets.
Get new grubbing boots.

Sumner
Public Library and Library Park are at 1116 Fryar Avenue on the banks
of the White River. It's a peaceful place to draw, read, and reflect.

Tapps
Brewing, Inc. is a microbrewery just down the street. It was constructed
by William A. Blackadder for Ralph Weaver, and was one of the first
apartment buildings in Sumner.

A video
presentation about Sumner was made for the high school's centennial
celebration in 1998. To see it, contact Charlie Nordeck and Videocreations,
253-863-8946.

The
Herbert Williams House (1890) and Sidney Williams House (late 1890's)
are at 1711 and 15003 Elm Street, respectively. Each house possesses
Italianate and Queen Anne Style construction elements - Herbert's home
has the more lavishly detailed interior. They are the last representations
of the wealth that was grown in Sumner during the hops boom of the
late last century.